Robert B. McMillen Endowed Professorship in Lipid Research

Est. 2007

The Robert B. McMillen Endowed Professorship in Lipid Research was established in 2007.

Robert B. McMillen graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and served in the U.S. Air Force. He accumulated more than 40 years of experience in transportation services: first with Kramer Brothers Freight Lines in Detroit, then with Transcon Lines, Los Angeles, where he was responsible for various senior management assignments throughout the United States. From 1977 to 1993, Mr. McMillen served as the president and chief executive officer of Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc. (TOTE). Later, he served as chairman emeritus of Saltchuk Resources, Inc., the parent company of TOTE, Foss Maritime and Foss Environmental & Infrastructure Services. At Saltchuk, Mr. McMillen came to know Mike Garvey, one of Saltchuk’s founders.

Mr. McMillen had an extensive history of community involvement, including serving as a member of the board of trustees of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, as a member of the board of directors of the University of Washington Foundation, and as vice chairman and a member of the board of the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. He was a member of the Seattle Rotary Club, was on the board of directors at Key Bank, was a member and past director of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the board of trustees of the Transportation Institute in Washington, D.C., among many other commitments and accomplishments.

Robert McMillen was also one of the University of Washington’s most generous contributors — by his own account, he grew up with little, acquired the resources to give back to his community, and felt a great deal of enjoyment in doing so. Mr. McMillen gave frequently and substantially to the McMillen Research in Medicine Fund (a fund that supported research at the Northwest Lipid Research Clinic) and to various programs in Intercollegiate Athletics. He died in October 2002 after suffering significant health setbacks.

In creating this fund, Michael and Lynn Garvey, Fred Goldberg, Leonard Shapiro, and Everett Trout know that the Robert B. McMillen Endowed Professorship in Lipid Research will help assure progress in the field of lipid research, a cause important to Mr. McMillen. The endowment will also help sustain the memory of Mr. McMillen’s accomplishments and generosity to the University of Washington.